Parental Divorce,Parental Religious Characteristics,and Religious Outcomes in Adulthood

Parental divorce has been linked to religious outcomes in adulthood. Previous research, however, has not adequately accounted for parental religious characteristics, which may render the association spurious and/or moderate the relationship. Many studies also do not consider subsequent family context, namely, whether one's custodial parent remarries. Using pooled data from three waves of the General Social Survey, we examine the nature of the relationships among parental divorce, subsequent family structure, and religiosity in adulthood. Growing up in a single‐parent family—but not a stepparent family—is positively associated with religious disaffiliation and religious switching and negatively associated with regular religious service attendance. Accounting for parental religious characteristics, however, explains sizable proportions of these relationships. In fact, after accounting for parental religious affiliation and service attendance, growing up with a single parent does not have a significant effect on religious service attendance. Parental religiosity also moderates the relationship between growing up with a single parent and religious service attendance: being raised in a single‐parent home does have a negative effect on religious service attendance among adults who had two religiously involved parents. There is modest evidence of this moderating relationship for other religious outcomes. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Secularism,Fundamentalism, or Catholicism? The Religious Composition of the United States to 2043

We provide a cohort‐component projection of the religious composition of the United States, considering differences in fertility, migration, intergenerational religious transmission, and switching among 11 ethnoreligious groups. If fertility and migration trends continue, Hispanic Catholics will experience rapid growth and expand from 10 to 18 percent of the American population between 2003 and 2043. Protestants are projected to decrease from 47 to 39 percent over the same period, while Catholicism emerges as the largest religion among the youngest age cohorts. Liberal Protestants decline relative to other groups due to low fertility and losses from religious switching. Immigration drives growth among Hindus and Muslims, while low fertility and a mature age structure causes Jewish decline. The low fertility of secular Americans and the religiosity of immigrants provide a countervailing force to secularization, causing the nonreligious population share to peak before 2043.     

The Education-Contingent Association Between Religiosity and Health: The Differential Effects of Self-Esteem and the Sense of Mastery

Using data from a representative sample of adults in Toronto, Canada, I examine the education-contingent association between religiosity (subjective religiosity and religious attendance) and four health-related outcomes: depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and self-rated health. I also test the extent that two personal resources—the sense of mastery and self-esteem—contribute to those associations. Findings indicate that subjective religiosity and attendance are generally associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and poor health. Moreover, although not entirely uniform, subjective religiosity and attendance tend to be associated more negatively with these outcomes among individuals with fewer years of education. While the sense of mastery suppresses the education-contingent influence of religiosity on distress outcomes, self-esteem generally contributes to those patterns. On balance, the suppression effects of mastery are offset by the explanatory effects of self-esteem. These findings elaborate on the well-established association between religiosity and health by illustrating education-contingent effects and potential counterbalancing roles of personal resources in these processes.     

Religious Affiliation,Religious Service Attendance,and Mortality

Very few studies have examined the effects of both religious affiliation and religiosity on mortality at the same time, and studies employing multiple dimensions of religiosity other than religious attendance are rare. Using the newly created General Social Survey-National Death Index data, our report contributes to the religion and mortality literature by examining religious affiliation and religiosity at the same time. Compared to Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and other religious groups have lower risk of death, but Black Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, and even those with no religious affiliation are not different from Mainline Protestants. While our study is consistent with previous findings that religious attendance leads to a reduction in mortality, we did not find other religious measures, such as strength of religious affiliation, frequency of praying, belief in an afterlife, and belief in God to be associated with mortality. We also find interaction effects between religious affiliation and attendance. The lowest mortality of Jews and other religious groups is more apparent for those with lower religious attendance. Thus, our result may emphasize the need for other research to focus on the effects of religious group and religious attendance on mortality at the same time.     

The Positives and Negatives of Higher Education: How the Religious Context in Adolescence Moderates the Effects of Education on Changes in Religiosity

Although longitudinal research suggests that declines in religiosity associated with higher education vary across religious traditions, it tells us little about variation in the effects of higher education on changes in religiosity more broadly. Higher education may promote increases in religiosity for some, particularly with many Americans now being raised in relatively secular homes. This research note uses multilevel growth curve models and four waves of longitudinal data to examine how the religious context in adolescence moderates the effects of higher education on changes in emerging adult religiosity, regardless of the direction of change. Religious tradition and parent religious service attendance assess the religious context in adolescence, and several religiosity scales and measures of religious behaviors assess dimensions of religiosity. Results show that higher education is particularly likely to lead to religious decline for mainline Protestants and those with religiously active parents, and to increases in religiosity for the religiously unaffiliated and those with parents who infrequently attend religious services. These findings demonstrate how the religious context in adolescence conditions the influence of education, thereby highlighting the variable nature of the influence of higher education on changes in religiosity.     

The Limits of Secularization? The Resurgence of Orthodoxy in Post‐Soviet Russia

The collapse of the Soviet Union ended a long period of state repression of religion, facilitating a possible religious revival in Russia. Despite evidence of increasing levels of Russian Orthodox identification in the 1990s, however, the debate over whether post‐Soviet Russia is an exception to secularization trends elsewhere continues. We address this debate by examining trends in Orthodox identification and church attendance and their impact on conservative moral values, as well as the basis of religiosity in age cohorts, using a seven‐wave national, stratified random sample survey covering 1993–2007. The analysis indicates continued growth in Orthodox self‐identification, increased church attendance, and an increasingly strong association between religiosity and conservative morality over this time period. Moreover, signs of religious revival are most pronounced among the cohort of people who came to maturity after communism ended. The resurgence of Orthodoxy in Russia provides a robust exception to secularization trends in Western Europe.     

Inheritance of Religiosity Among Muslim Immigrants in a Secular Society

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of religiosity within Muslim immigrant families who live in the Netherlands, a rather secular society. We studied whether transmission of religiosity within immigrant families is influenced by warm family relations on the one hand, and integration into the host country on the other hand. Two analyses were carried out on a nationally representative sample of Turkish and Moroccan first- and second-generation immigrants aged 15–45, in the Netherlands. The findings support the hypotheses to some extent: warm family ties are found to facilitate religious transmission but transmission is stronger when parents have different national backgrounds. A stronger transmission is found within families that are stronger embedded in religious communities; however there are large differences between men and women. Our research shows that the influence of parental religiosity cannot be ignored in the study of immigrants’ religiosity.     

Identity Importance and the Overreporting of Religious Service Attendance: Multiple Imputation of Religious Attendance Using the American Time Use Study and the General Social Survey

The difference between religious service attendance measured using conventional surveys and time diaries has been attributed to identity processes; a high level of religious identity importance may prompt overreporting on a survey question. This article tests the hypothesized role of identity importance as an individual determinant of overreporting and the result of socially desirable behavior. A time diary measure of attendance (from the American Time Use Study 2003–2008) is imputed for conventional survey data (from the General Social Survey 2002–2008) using the multiple imputation for multiple studies procedure ( Gelman, King, and Liu 1998a ). Logistic regression models predicting self‐reported attendance and overreported attendance are estimated using identity importance as a key covariate and controlling for demographic variables associated with attendance. Identity importance is a strong predictor of both self‐reported and overreported attendance. Attendance, while a biased measure of actual behavior, may be a good indicator of religiosity.     

Religiosity and Financial Crises in the United States

The farm crisis in the United States in the 1980s had profound effects on rural, agricultural regions of the country, but almost no impact on urban and suburban areas. At the same time, the 2007–2008 housing crisis impacted almost all metropolitan areas, but was much more deeply felt in certain states, such as California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida. I use a difference‐in‐differences methodology and find that religiosity as measured by religious attendance, prayer frequency, and religious intensity increased significantly in areas impacted by the farm crisis for those who worked in agriculture, and by the housing crisis for those who worked in housing‐related industries. Chen describes increased religiosity in Indonesia following the 1998 financial crisis, and this article demonstrates a similar response to severe financial distress in the United States. This increase is not due to a lower opportunity cost of time, as those who are currently employed have higher levels of attendance than those who are not. I hypothesize that the increased religiosity results from religious institutions’ ability to provide public goods, both financial and emotional, in the form of community support.     

Religion and Happiness Among Israeli Jews: Findings from the ISSP Religion III Survey

This study investigates religious predictors of happiness in a population-based sample of Israeli Jewish adults (N = 991). Using data collected in 2009–2010 as a part of the International Social Survey Programme’s Religion III Survey, analyses were conducted on a fully recursive structural model of the effects of synagogue attendance and several religious mediators on a single-item measure of happiness. Bivariately, every religious measure (synagogue attendance, prayer frequency, certainty of God beliefs, a four-item Supernatural Beliefs Scale, and subjective religiosity) is positively and significantly associated with happiness. In the structural model, 11 of 15 hypothesized paths are significant. Of these, only subjective religiosity exhibits a significant direct effect on happiness (β = 0.15, p < .01). The other four religious indicators, however, all exert indirect effects on happiness through subjective religiosity and combinations of each other. Total effects on happiness of both synagogue attendance (β = 0.10, p < .01) and the Supernatural Beliefs Scale (β = 0.12, p < .05) are statistically significant. Analyses adjust for effects of age and other sociodemographic covariates. Results build on a growing body of population-based findings supporting a salutary impact of Jewish religious observance on subjective well-being in Israel and the diaspora.     

Baring Their Souls in Online Profiles or Not? Religious Self‐Disclosure in Social Media

This study measured the prevalence of religious self‐disclosure in public MySpace profiles that belonged to a subsample of National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) wave 3 respondents (N = 560). Personal attributes associated with religious identification as well as the overall quantity of religious self‐disclosures are examined. A majority (62 percent) of profile owners identified their religious affiliations online, although relatively few profile owners (30 percent) said anything about religion outside the religion‐designated field. Most affiliation reports (80 percent) were consistent with the profile owner's reported affiliation on the survey. Religious profile owners disclosed more about religion when they also believed that religion is a public matter or if they evaluated organized religion positively. Evangelical Protestants said more about religion than other respondents. Religiosity, believing that religion is a public matter, and the religiosity of profile owners’ friendship group were all positively associated with religious identification and self‐disclosure.     

Individual Religiosity,Moral Community,and Drug User Treatment

Some scholars have suggested that individual religiosity inhibits deviant behavior. Others have suggested that behavior is more responsive to the influence of religiously‐oriented moral communities than to the religiosity of individuals. Still others have suggested that non‐religious moral communities, such as sports teams or self‐help recovery groups, are just as effective as religious moral communities. The current article examines the associations between addicts' reductions in drug and alcohol use and religiosity, increase in church attendance, and increase in addiction self‐help recovery group attendance, following participation in publicly funded treatment programs. Results indicate that increase in self‐help recovery group attendance and church attendance were independently associated with reduction in alcohol use. Only increase in church attendance was significantly associated with reduction in cocaine use. Self‐assessed religious conviction was not associated with changes in drug use.     

Secular and Liminal: Discovering Heterogeneity Among Religious Nones

This study examines the stability of religious preference among people who claim no religious preference in national surveys (i.e., religious nones). Using data from the Faith Matters Study, General Social Survey, and American National Election Study, we show that about 30 percent of religious nones in the first wave of the survey claim an affiliation with a religious group a year later. The percentage of religious nones remained stable in the two waves because a similar number of respondents moved in the opposite direction. Using various measures of religiosity, we show that most of these unstable nones report no significant change in religious belief or practice. We call them liminal nones as they stand halfway in and halfway out of a religious identity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings on the controversies surrounding the rise of religious nones in recent years.     

Religion and Subjective Well‐Being Across Religious Traditions: Evidence from 1.3 Million Americans

I examine the relationship between religious service attendance and two domains (cognitive and affective) of subjective well‐being using Gallup Daily Poll data, which has a sample size over 1.3 million. I find that religious attendance is positively associated with both domains of subjective well‐being in all religious traditions examined, including non‐Christian traditions and “religious nones.” The strength of the association varies significantly across the traditions: stronger among Christian groups—particularly among the groups that are, on average, more observant—than among non‐Christian religions or “religious nones.” The stronger association among the observant groups is partly due to the lower level of well‐being among nonattendees in those groups than nonattendees in less observant groups. I also find that the association is stronger among individuals who consider religion an important part of life than among those who do not. Finally, my findings suggest that religious service attendance is equally strongly related to both domains of subjective well‐being.     

Religious Resources or Differential Returns? Early Religious Socialization and Declining Attendance in Emerging Adulthood

The transition from adolescence into emerging adulthood is usually accompanied by a decline in religious participation. This article examines why such decline occurs at different rates across major Christian traditions and whether this variation can be explained by early socialization factors. Using data from waves 1 and 3 of the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 1,879), I examine the effects of parental religiosity, church support, religious education, and youth group involvement on the decline in attendance five years later. Results show that these socialization processes adequately explain why attendance declines at different rates across religious traditions. However, these socialization factors do not have the same effect across traditions and often yield differential returns for attendance outcomes. These findings also suggest that comparisons across religious traditions can resolve the “channeling hypothesis” debate about whether parental influence on an offspring's future religiosity is primarily direct or indirect.     

Religious Practices Among Islamic Immigrants: Moroccan and Turkish Men in Belgium

This study examines the religious participation of Islamic immigrants in Belgium using data from the Migration History and Social Mobility Survey collected in 1994–1996 from 2,200 men who had immigrated from Turkey and Morocco. Religious participation is measured as mosque attendance, fasting during Ramadan, and sacrificing a sheep at the Festival of Sacrifice. Results show that the religious participation of Islamic immigrants depends on both premigration and postmigration characteristics. Religious participation is higher among immigrants who: (1) attended a Koranic school in their country of origin, (2) were socialized in a religious region of their home country, (3) received little schooling, (4) currently live in an area of Belgium with a greater number of mosques, and (5) associate with a high number of co‐ethnics. These results suggest that the religious participation of Islamic immigrants in Belgium is an outcome of characteristics unique to immigrants as well as processes common among the general population.     

National disidentification and minority identity: A study among Muslims in Western Europe

Host national disidentification in which immigrants explicitly distance themselves from society is problematic for a cohesive national community and is likely to hamper immigrants’ successful host society integration. Among Sunni Muslim immigrants of Turkish origin living in Germany and the Netherlands we tested whether (a) an empirical distinction between national disidentification and identification can be made, (b) whether higher perceived group discrimination of Muslims (“reactive religiosity path”) and (c) stronger Muslim self-centrality (“intrinsic religiosity path”) are associated with stronger host national disidentification, to the extent that they are associated with a stronger commitment to religious identity content. Disidentification was found to be a separate construct and both the reactive religiosity path and the intrinsic religiosity path were found to be related to higher levels of disidentification, mediated by religious identity.     

Religious Involvement among Caribbean Blacks in the United States

This study examined demographic and denominational differences in religious involvement (i.e., organizational, non-organizational, subjective) among Caribbean Blacks (Black Caribbeans) residing in the U.S. using data from the National Survey of American Life. Caribbean Blacks who were born in the U.S. had lower levels of religious involvement than those who immigrated and respondents originating from Haiti (as compared to Jamaica) had higher levels of religious involvement, while persons from Trinidad-Tobago reported lower service attendance than did Jamaicans. Older persons, women and married persons generally demonstrated greater religious involvement than their counterparts, while highly educated respondents expressed lower levels of self-rated religiosity. Denominational differences indicated that Baptists reported high levels of religious involvement; however, in several cases, Pentecostals and Seventh Day Adventists reported greater involvement.